First, I would like to invite you to visit the Canadian Women in Design website which showcases Canadian women in design who lead and inspire others.

As part of this great initiative, I have been invited to share my thoughts in an interview which got published earlier this week. It has been a pleasure to collaborate and be a part of such a great project, and I would like to invite you to do the same by nominating a Canadian woman that inspires you.

Last September, I took part in the Bulletin Board, a blog post series aimed at Edmonton based design students. Posts will be released throughout the Fall and Winter semesters. Hopefully, the information shared in them will help students with their journey of becoming a professional designer!

The series will be presented on the GDC Alberta North Chapter website. Since I wrote a large portion of this first post alongside my GDC peers I have decided to post it below. Enjoy!

*A special thank you to Alex Descôtes and Adam Goudreau for their help with this project.

Illustrated by Valéry Goulet (me)

Hopefully this summer was a great opportunity for you to unwind, travel and/or save up for the upcoming school year. Now what? Classes have started and everyone is excited about learning and discovering new things! To build on this excitement, we have created The Bulletin Board and have gathered some useful information that we hope will help you learn and grow faster on your journey of becoming a professional designer. Enjoy the first issue of The Bulletin Board and have a wonderful semester!

Lynda.com

One challenging aspect of starting a new project is that students don’t always know the ins and outs of their design applications. Did you know that if you’re an Edmonton Public Library member you have free access to all Lynda.com tutorials and courses? The EPL membership is free!

Art Supplies

As students often run on a tight budget, it’s a good idea to take advantage of the great discounts the school art and book store may offer. In addition, our city has a number of art stores that might help you find unique supplies. Below are a handful that are located in different areas of the city.

In this era, it’s definitely tempting to travel through the web for inspiration, but libraries are still quite unique and offer resources we can’t always experience online.

Make sure to drop by your school library and walk through the aisles. The great thing is that you can grab all of the books and magazines that interest you without having to buy any of them! Also, inquire about the artist book collections at both Universities as you don’t need to be a member to enjoy those great pieces while on site.

Online Reading

There is a ton of great online resources in addition to the printed material the different libraries have to offer. Below are some great recommendations from us.

Eye on Design – Website/Newsletter that covers a range of design topics

Lecture in Progress – an online resource offering advice about and insight into working in the creative industry.

This concludes the first issue of The Bulletin Board. We truly hope that you’ll visit all the great spots and websites we shared with you. See you in a month with more great resources. Bonne rentrée scolaire!

Recently, I had the pleasure of developing a new line of stationery for little ones. I have always enjoyed illustrating greeting cards in my spare time, but the audience was always for adults. This time around, I thought about kids having the opportunity to share the simple pleasure of the hand-written note. Inspired in part by the French designers working at Papier Tigre, as well as other great designers residing all around the world, I wanted to create a high-quality product that is functional and adorned with great typefaces, graphics and illustrations.

The first collection I am launching is the kid's stationery set Les amis Géo. This little stationery set features six different geometric illustrations on the front with space to write (or draw!) a message on the back.

Stationery set of 6 designs with a green lining colour for the envelope

Personalized stationery in French

Each of these cards are printed on high-quality paper allowing you to write easily using the pencil (or crayon!) of your choice. The cards are also very thick which protects them from unwanted folds. A colorful seam runs through the middle of each card. Each note comes matched with a high-quality, white envelope to which an ultra-coloured printed lining is added.

The option for personalization means you can have your child's name printed right on the card. A minimum of 25 cards is required to customize your card.

It is also possible to purchase a single card. For this option, you (or your child) can write their name on the card. This stationery is available in English, French and any other language of your choice!

Papa Géo flat note

You can currently order your stationery set online. As we go, the list of stockists will expand! Stay tuned!

It’s been too long! The reason for this post is to share great news with you all!

Things are going well and I haven’t a chance to actively write on the blog since last November. I have been busy preparing the new year's workload and developing projects that will see the light of day pretty soon.

But to get back to the great news: One the rebrands I worked on for the Alberta Construction Safety Association is currently a finalist for the Marketing Award of Distinction of the 2017 Alberta Business Awards of Distinction! The winners will be announced on Friday, February 24 and I am really excited for them since the ACSA team I worked with on this project was truly amazing. It’s awesome to see great clients get rewarded.

For this project I worked in collaboration with The Met Agency and I was responsible for the overall Creative Direction and Art Direction. I also designed the new visual identity, stationery, banners, brand book and branding guidelines.